The Last Month, Part 4: They Pray

I'd like to point out that this was cold season.  And it was glorious.  We actually wore socks under our Chacos when we all sat around the fire at night.  I slept INSIDE a sleeping bag.  A sleeping bag!  Something that is designed to keep you warmer while you sleep!  We even had to warm up the water for our bucket baths over a fire!  It was crazy and unlike any village experience I'd had before that point.  I kind of loved it.

So the next morning, we woke up, we washed, we helped prepare breakfast and then ate it.  Then we waited for Max to tell us it was time to go.  I was sitting on the little dirt porch of the little mud hut writing in my little prayer journal (which I CAN'T FIND and it is driving me crazy!).  I remember once again recounting how much work needed to be done in such a teeny tiny amount of time and thinking God never promised we'd finish...He just told us to try our guts out.

We had brought 24 Stories for testing (of 32 total...4 had already been tested and 4 more still needed to be recorded with Nick).  We had strategized how to eliminate steps and test Stories and document everything at one time.  We had our recorders, our speakers, our computer (which we'd use until it died...then we'd have to drive ~30 minutes into a town with electricity to charge it).  Max had told us that the "women's chief" had lined up about a dozen women to help us that day.  We still didn't know what that meant.  Would we play Stories and ask questions for all 12 women until they were ready to leave?  Would a few come at a time?  At this point, it was taking us a couple of hours to test one Story so we thought we'd need to be able to spend an entire day at Tea Village working straight through except for meal times.

Finally Max told us to load up the truck and head to Tea Village.  We had about a 20 minute drive, so we plugged the computer in to the truck charger just so it would be max charged when we got there.  On the way there, Max got pretty serious and said to me and Abby...
"You know, this village, they pray."  (This is the way to say they are Musl-m).
"Yes, we know, Max."
"No, I mean, they really, really pray.  Even for Sunny people, they are very strong prayers."
"Okay, we understand, Max."
"I know what you two are doing because I have traveled and I am more educated.  And I am okay with it...but they really pray."
"We understand."

Needless to say we were a little anxious when we finally pulled in, and with a huge cloud of dust, turned off the truck.  We got out, adjusted our extra shawls over our heads and around our shoulders, grabbed our gear, and followed Max to the compound of huts where the women were.